Nick Oliveri @ The Greystones 10th June 2014

As the ex-bassist for Queens of the Stone Ages, you might expect Nick Oliveri to stick to the comfort zone of his former band, but you’d be remarkably wrong.

Serenading the crowd with what he termed ‘Death Acoustic’ (his 2009 solo album), a stripped back example of death metal. He growled through a collection of songs mostly from the vast array of artists he has worked with including QOTSA. He pushed himself to his limits, experimenting with songs that he openly admitted cannot be played acoustically. During ‘Feel Good Hit of the Summer’ he invited fans onto the stage to perform with him. It was an excitable mess of toneless singing, with all participants dancing and sweating in an ecstatic blur. He balanced these drug-infused lyrics with his own rendition of ‘Auto Pilot’, a song dedicated to his friend who died of an overdose. This performance was the highlight of the night as he captured exactly what the message of the song.